The Independant Living Fund was originally introduced as a political sop under the Fowler reforms. Thousands of people were losing the needs determined additional payments under the old supplementary benefit system, when it was being streamlined into more of a one size fits all, with specific premiums paid without regard to actual expenditure, which at least the additional payments were predicated upon. With the creation of the Independant Living Fund Thatcher's goons (Not objective speech I know) were able to protest to the public that they were not as heartless as they seemed having provided a suitable and "more targeted" alternative. Of course "more targeted" usually means in the practical world fewer recipients and I wonder if there is the research to demonstrate just how much potentially was cut and lost to needy families during the Thatcher years.
The context is still there as the current Government is delivering the final coup de grace. We must not forget that Universal Credit is more than just a simplification of the system, it is an outright cut for all disabled people who currently receive the severe disability premium on income support. What is to replace that?
What has been lost in the whole public debate (if you can call the Daily Mail hate fest that at all) is any recognition that disability costs money to the disabled person and there used to be a lot of research from groups like the Child Poverty Action Group and Disability Income Group around this. What has also been lost is the fact that out of work benefits are nothing to do with capacity for work at all, they are essentially a form of social insurance and compensation for the privations of not having work when there is none due to either the economy or ill health.
It's about time the debate was turned round to examine the real lives of disabled people, the real nature of the economy, and taken away from this highly moralistic and dubious strain of argument about fairness, because in the final analysis it is not fair.
Anyway I would suggest these are things to keep in mind when commenting on the consultation.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jenny Morris
> Sent: 17 September 2012 10:52
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Independent Living Fund consultation
>
> The government's consultation on the Independent Living Fund closes on 10th October
> http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2012/future-of-ilf.shtml
>
> Here's a blog I did earlier this year about why we need to defend the ILF
> http://jennymorrisnet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/defending-independent-living-fund.html
>
> We are fighting a losing battle but it's still important that as many people as possible
> respond to the consultation.
>
> ________________End of message________________
>
> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies
> at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
>
> Enquiries about list administration should be sent to disability-research-
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
>
> You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.
________________End of message________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.
|